A Bird's Eye View of The Political Pulse:

The Big Stories and the Big Picture of this Past Week

Feel free to check the entire blog archives from “Political Pulse” & “Salzillo Report” on the 2024 primary cycle, rural outreach, redistricting litigation, base dynamics, campaign organization, the current media landscape, the issues at stake, America’s political history, the progressive movement, the true story about Gina Raimondo, and much more.

Note to readers: primary overviews are coming up next week.

Congressman Henry Cuellar Via Cronkitenewsonline.com. One has to wonder whether Egypt and Azerbaijan has more political influence with people like Mr. Cuellar than Ukraine does in its fight for sovereignty and independence against Russia.

Firstly, the Wall Street Journal published a very biased piece on Biden’s age and fitness. According to later accounts, the article cited anecdotes from a number of unverified sources, and mostly Republicans. At the same time, it failed to include high-profile Democrats willing to go on-the-record, such as Washington Senator Patty Murray, the great Rhode Island Senator Jack Reed, and Delaware Senator Chris Coons. In other words, all the people who worked with or knew Biden from his time in the US Senate and as Vice-President.

Hmm. Well, in many respects, the WSJ report gave us nothing that was really new. Yes, Joe Biden is our oldest President—and thus our most experienced President. Yes, Joe Biden is 81—but Donald Trump is 78, so why is “the age problem” only considered a Biden problem?

All this goes to show the power of biased media, especially media outlets run by corporate executives and private businessmen like Rupert Murdoch. Whether you are a Trump supporter or a Biden supporter, welcome to the world of corporate media, the same world that regularly props up Clinton “Democrats” like Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo at every turn.

The latest Raimondo fluff job comes from Time Magazine. In their report on Raimondo’s role on artificial intelligence rules making, they completely glossed over Raimondo’s disturbingly close ties to Big Tech, cryptocurrency, and AI business interests. Just as one example, they failed to mention that her husband Andy Moffit worked at a company called PathAI from as early as May 2020. PathAI, for those who do not know, is a company supported by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

And now, Moffit continues to work currently at an AI company called Sword Health (don’t take my word for it; check out his own LinkedIn profile). He has stock investments in those AI companies (as previously reported), and his wife Gina has a reputation of putting profit before the public interest (cough, cough, pensions) and for running a sub-par venture capitalist operation at Point Judith Capital (as several inside sources have mentioned over the years).

All of which is to say, Congress and the White House alike should demand the Commerce Secretary comply with executive branch ethics practices and recuse herself from direct involvement in AI regulation initiatives from the White House and her Commerce Department. AI should not become another opportunity for Raimondo to make her profits off of shady government projects (and federal taxpayers). The industry is just too important, both because of the innovations it can help create and the dangers it poses to the modern world.

History may not repeat, but it does rhyme. Raimondo’s suspect relationship with the AI industry is the latest in a concerning track record, tracing back to a dark history of controversy in Little Rhody (see these Change.org and MoveOn petitions; and sign them if you can). If you want to learn more, please check out this recent letter to the editor from my brother and myself on Raimondo’s pension crisis. Or this deep Target 12 report on how the government has requested back $37 million in SNAP benefits because of Raimondo’s UHIP debacle. Or this article on the Bradley Hospital children warehousing investigation. The feds are starting to look deeper into Raimondo’s legacy in state government.

Remember: this is the frontrunner to succeed Janet Yellen at the Treasury Department as of right now. Watch out America.

Anyways, I thought Congress had it easy (i.e., with the recesses, the lack of productivity, the vacations, and the additional homes). But then again, the Supreme Court appears to have it even easier. Just ask Clarence Thomas. What is like to go to Indonesia and Bali on the dime of a right-wing billionaire who loves to collect Nazi memorabilia? I am not sure, but I hardly think it makes you a hero of the working-class or even the rule of law.

By the way, we Democrats have put a lot of pressure on Thomas and Alito. Unfortunately, they have no sense of shame, and they will not yield to any pressure campaign. So why not focus our scrutiny on Chief Justice Roberts, the justice allowing the biggest kangaroos on the kangaroo court to run amuck? Bring Roberts in to testify about his inaction, and make him do it under oath. If Republicans will punish Attorney General Merrick Garland for supposedly orchestrating Trump’s conviction, there is every right to hold Roberts accountable for his objective failure to hold up the standards of impartiality.

Finally, I have to reflect on the power of the Netanyahu/radical right-wing Israeli lobby in politics. Where Ukraine has had to battle for the smallest crumbs possible (not to mention fight off Russian lobbyists), Israel has received everything it wanted. On top of that, Israel, unlike Ukraine, has interfered directly in our domestic politics to advance its policy goals. If that wasn’t bad enough, Israel’s Diaspora Minister, the leader of these election interference efforts, has practically gone on the record to support Trump over Biden.

This is what the military-industrial complex looks like. It does not judge defense needs and diplomatic crises on the merits. Instead, it cares more about profits for defense contractors and influence via DC lobbyists. It embodies everything wrong with Washington DC politics today.

Well, let’s see what news next week will bring.